Welcome to the Weeping Willow

Description

It is a large-sized to medium deciduous tree, growing up to 20-25 m tall. It grows rapidly, but has a short lifespan. The shoots are yellowish-brown, with small buds. The leaves are spirally arranged, narrow, light green, 4-16 cm long and 0.5-2 cm broad, with finely serrate margins and long acuminate tips ; they turn a gold-yellow in autumn. The flowers are arranged in catkins produced early in the spring; it is dioecious, with the male and female catkins on separate trees.[1[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_willow#cite_note-foc-0|]]][3[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_willow#cite_note-rhs-2|]]]

Flower

Leaves

Bark

Leaf

[edit] Taxonomy

The scientific name babylonica derives from a misunderstanding by Linnaeus that it was the tree described in the Bible in Psalm 137, "By the rivers of Babylon, ... hung our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof ...". However, the tree named gharab in early Hebrew, is now known as Populus euphratica.[4[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_willow#cite_note-bean4-3|]]]
Many botanists, notably the Russian willow expert Alexey Skvortsov, treat the Chinese Willow Salix matsudana as a synonym of Salix babylonica; it is also native to northern China. The only reported difference between the two is that S. matsudana has two nectaries in each female flower, whereas S. babylonica has only one; however, this character is variable in many willows (e.g., Crack Willow Salix fragilis can have either one or two), so even this difference may not be significant.[4[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_willow#cite_note-bean4-3|]]]

[edit] Subdivisions

"Weeping willow" redirects here. For other uses, see Weeping Willow (disambiguation).
Early Chinese cultivar selections include the original Weeping Willow Salix babylonica 'Pendula', in which the branches and twigs are strongly pendulous. However, most Weeping Willows outside China are hybrids between this cultivar, and either White Willow Salix alba (Salix Sepulcralis Group) or Crack Willow Salix fragilis (Salix × pendulina Wenderoth), which are better adapted to the more humid climates of most heavily populated regions of Europe and North America. The most widely grown Weeping Willow cultivar is Salix Sepulcralis Group 'Chrysocoma', with bright yellowish shoots.[4[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_willow#cite_note-bean4-3|]]][5[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_willow#cite_note-rdm-4|]]]

[edit] Ecology

It has also been introduced into many other areas, but has not generally been successfully cultivated outside China, being very short-lived and unsightly due to canker diseases in the more humid climates in much of Europe and North America. It is particularly susceptible to canker disease, Willow Anthracnose (Marssonina salicicola) and sensitive to late-spring frosts.[4[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_willow#cite_note-bean4-3|]]][5[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weeping_willow#cite_note-rdm-4|]]]

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